Secret Ingredient, the debut feature by Macedonian director Gjorce Stavreski, won four awards last week at prestigious international film festivals. The film won the Best Film award in the main competition at the Aubagne International Film Festival and the First Prize in the main competition at the Bergamo Film Meeting. The film also received a Special Mention Award from the jury at the FRANCOFILM-festival in Rome, as well as a special award in the Balkan competition at the Sofia International Film Festival.

Secret Ingredient was also screened at the film festival International Film Festival Prague - FEBIOFEST, where all the projections were completely sold out. From the premiere in November the film was screened at 16 film festivals and won seven international awards. The film was screened in India, USA and Europe. The film is also available in the offer of the HBO on-demand video streaming service – HBO GO.

Another film supported by Macedonian Film Agency, Would You Look At Her by Goran Stolevski won the Grand Prix award for best international short film at the 65^th edition of the Belgrade Documentary and Short Film Festival, the oldest Serbian film festival and also one of the longest living European film festivals. The film, which received the Short Film Jury Award at 2018 Sundance Film Festival, will compete in the 6th LET'S CEE Film Festival in Vienna from April 19^th and 22^nd.

 

Since its screening at the last year’s Tribeca Festival, the film INTENT TO DESTROY: DEATH, DENIAL & DEPICTION has been shown at numerous festivals, where it was selected primarily on account of its pressing and engaged theme. The thirteenth documentary film by the director Joe Berlinger, now already a renown documentary filmmaker, examines a very sensitive theme – the Armenian genocide committed by Turkey during the World War One – and poses the question why such a tragic historical event has been censored. Hence, Berlinger decides to expose the origin and the nature of the crime. And, in fact, it goes one step further! He unmasks the conspiracy of the Hollywood clique, which by censoring films in effect censored mass crimes, exploring in that manner a violent history of the Armenian genocide, as well as the last century Turkey’s denial of its involvement.  In order to tell the story, Berlinger has compiled a massive documentation concerning the nature of the crime and created an exceptionally relevant high-budget work, despite all political pressure and threats of retaliation.

In the film INTENT TO DESTROY: DEATH, DENIAL & DEPICTION the author becomes a chronicler of the true events taking place in the 1915 genocide, treating them as if they happened yesterday. During those years, the Otoman Turks annihilated more than 1.5 million Armenians. Berlinger - as a chronicler - is equally interested in how historical events and concealed crimes actually affect and burden modern Turkey, as the key figure behind them. During the entire film, the author is focused on all efforts made by Turkey to free itself from the crimes, as well as on revealing how Turkish officials used diplomatic coercion to subvert international academia, sway over advocates and use Turkey’s geographic placement and geopolitical connections to strong-arm America and other key allies into accepting their version of history.

Much more than politics, the film explores a cultural suppression insisted on by Turkey, through which it promoted its version of history. In fact, in many ways Berlinger builds on the 2016 film THE PROMISE, the first completely produced big Hollywood film on the Armenian genocide, successfully made only thanks to the fact that was fully financed by the billionaire Kirk Kerkorian, an Armenian Christian, whose family witnessed the genocide and whose 1980s efforts to make the movie failed, precisely on account of the fact that Turkey found in the USA a strong ally in suppressing the horrible events. The Berlinger’s film reveals other movies that dealt with the genocide and were not able to reach wider audience – which is, actually, the highest achievement of his documentary! Before THE PROMISE, featuring Hollywood stars Christian Bale and Oscar Isaac, there had been a whole series of censored or put-aside films, hidden by Americans. Now, Berlinger uses the filming of THE PROMISE as a background story for one of the versions of the horrendous massacre, through which it explores the fact and all complexities of the genocide itself, as well as many-years long Turkish campaign of its denial.

By combining a cinéma vérité approach, never-before-seen archive material and interviews with former government officials, historians, artists and professor – giving, on the way, a special place to those who claim to the present day that the crime actually never happened – the film places itself into a unique unbiased position from which it follows both the shocking and complex history of the genocide and the Turkish efforts to control the story even in present times. Before our eyes an unrevealed and untold story develops, bringing to light, on the cinema screen, a long-ignored chapter on human cruelty.

It is particularly interesting that a big contemporary production Hollywood film is crossing the path with the history of genocide and the entire network of international repressive efforts to conceal it. This is how INTENT TO DESTROY provides a completely new angle of viewing both the last days of the Ottoman Empire and the history of enormous-scale brutal killings of Armenians from 1915 to 1923, along with all the consequences that follow that event until present days.

BelDocs festival:

During the last decade, Beldocs Festival has become the most loved spring documentary film festival, which gathers the best works of contemporary documentary filmmaking. The most important contemporary documentary films have had its premiere precisely at Beldocs. In this year, again, a documentary film market will be organised, for the second time supported by the European Union through the Programme: Creative Europe, sub-programme Media. 

This year, as well, Beldocs is continuing to develop and educate its audience through a quality and premiere programme, offering, in addition to domestic, an international selection, as well as numerous accompanying programmes of events, among which Feel Good Movies and Biographical Documentaries proved to be the most loved. This year, in addition to Sava Centre, Beldocs will be held at Dom Sindikata, Kinoteka’s film theatres at Kosovska and Uzun Mirkova Street, the cinema Fontana and the Museum of Contemporary Art.

In this year, a #europeanfilmchallenge prize competition has been launched, in which the documentary film audience compete for valuable prizes – full paid trip to an A category film festival. After Berlinale, the next round is a trip to Cannes and the second round started on 12 February. The rules are the following: a competitor should see 10 European documentary films on any of possible platforms (VoD, SVoD, cinema, festival, television, etc.), name the film and the platform, place a photograph as a proof and hash tag #europeanfilmchallenge. After certain period of time, the competition organiser will select a winner, who will receive an attractive prize.

This year’s 11 Beldocs Festival takes place from 7 to 14 May.

 

Danish psychodrama Winter Brothers received the main prize at the 23^rd edition of Vilnius Film Festival Kino Pavasaris. Directed by Hlynur Pálmason, it is the first winner of a newly established European Debut competition. Bertrando Mandico’s The Wild Boys and Robert Schwentke’s The Captain are also among the winners announced at the closing ceremony on Friday.

Pálmason’s debut feature is set in a small community of Danish chalk mine workers. Praised for its visual poetry and minimalistic style, Winter Brothers tells a story of brotherhood, violence and loneliness within.

“It heralds a new voice in art house cinema” said the jury, consisting of Screen Daily’s chief critic Fionnuala Halligan, Jerusalem Film Festival’s program director Elad Samorzik, producer and festival strategist Kathleen McInnis and director Audrius Stonys.

Winter Brothers was also a success for actor Elliott Crosset Hove who won the Best Actor award for his demanding lead role as Emil. The best actress award went to Darya Zhovner for her outstanding part in Closeness, the dark coming of age drama set in the Russian North Caucasus.French director Bertrando Mandico’s experimental debut feature The Wild Boys earned him the Best Director award.

This year, Vilnius Film Festival combined two traditional main competition programmes New Europe – New Names and Baltic Gaze into the newEuropean Debut competition, focusing on debuting filmmakers from all of Europe.

Robert Schwentke’s World War II drama The Captain was awarded by the FIPRESCI jury. This year marked the first time that FIPRESCI members gave their prize at Kino Pavasaris. Jens Assur’s debute feature Ravens was awarded with the special Cineuropa’s prize.

Loving Vincent, the world’s first fully painted feature film by Dorota Kobiela and Hugh Welchman earned the Audience Award and Spanish director Rodrigo Sorogoye’s Mother got the Audience Award for the best short film. The award of the Short Film Competition went to Lithuanian director Laurynas Bareiša for By The Pool.

The festival was a success for Jurgis Matulevičius, whose historical drama Isaac was chosen as one of the winning in-development projects atMeeting Point – Vilnius industry screenings. The excerpts of this film together with Annagret Sachse’s Russia today and Kristians Riekstins Evawill be shown during Cannes industry screenings this May. Marija Stonytė’s coming-of-age story Gentle Warriors and Audrius MickevičiusExamplary Behavior won special post-production and promotion prizes.

Held in 11 cities in Lithuania, Kino Pavasaris counted 115,000 cinemagoers, once again establishing itself as the leading film festival in Lithuania. 

 

COMPLETE LIST OF WINNERS

European Debut Winners

Best Film:

Winter Brothers / Vinterbrødre (Denmark, Iceland)

Directed by Hlynur Pálmason

 

Best Director:

Bertrand Mandico for The Wild Boys / Les Garçons Sauvages (France)

Best Actress:

Darya Zhovner for Closeness / Tesnota (Russian Federation)

Directed by Kantemir Balagov

Best Actor:

Elliott Crosset Hove for Winter Brothers  / Vinterbrødre (Denmark)

Directed by Hlynur Pálmason

 

FIPRESCI Prize:

The Captain / Der Hauptmann (Germany, France, Poland, Portugal)

Directed by Robert Schwentke

Cineuropa Prize:

Ravens / Korparna (Sweden)

Directed by: Jens Assur

AUDIENCE AWARDS:

Audience Award – Best Feature Film:

Loving Vincent (Poland, United Kingdom)

Directed by Dorota Kobiela and Hugh Welchman

Audience Award – Best Lithuanian Feature Film:

100 Years Together / 100 metų kartu (Lithuania)

Directed by Edita Kabaraitė

Audience Award – Best Short Film:

Mother / Madre (Spain)

Directed by Rodrigo Sorogoyen

 

STUDENT FILM AWARDS

Best Student Film:

Mono No Aware (Lithuania)

Directed by Emilija Juzeliūnaitė

Perspective Student Director:

Titas Laucius for Snake / Gyvatė (Lithuania)

Special Mention:

Vytis (Lithuania)

Directed by Jevgenij Tichonov

SHORT FILM AWARDS

 

Special Mention:

Little Hands / Les Petites Mains (Belgium, France)

Directed by Rémi Allier

Best Short Film:

By The Pool / Pirtis (Lithuania)

Directed by Laurynas Bareiša

 

MEETING POINT – VILNIUS INDUSTRY SCREENING WINNERS

3 films – 20 minutes of each of the winning film projects will be shown at the Cannes Marche du Film industry screenings:

Isaak / Izaokas (Lithuania)

Directed by Jurgis Matulevičius

Russia today / (Germany, Russia)

Directed by Annagret Sachse

Eva (Latvia)

Directed by Kristians Riekstins

Sound and video post-production prize established by Vilnius Film Cluster together with “Madstone” and “Roofsound”:

Gentle Warriors / Švelnūs kariai (Lithuania)

Directed by Marija Stonytė

Digital storage and promotion prize from Baltic View and Noir Lumiere:

Exemplary Behavior / Pavyzdinas elgesys (Lithuania)

Directed by Audrius Mickevičius

Best Lithuanian film project pitch awarded by AVAKA:

Gentle Warriors / Švelnūs kariai (Lithuania)

Directed by Marija Stonytė

 

Beldocs Festival from 7 to 14 May in Belgrade

The forthcoming Beldocs International Documentary Film Festival opens on 7 May at 7.30 pm at the Sava Centre’s Great Hall with the premiers of two Serbian documentary films: ‘In Praise of Nothing’, by Boris Mitic and ‘Kaktus Bata’s Last Adventure’ by Djordje Markovic.

Without any doubts, one of the most exclusive guests of 11th Beldocs will be Ruth Beckermann, an Austrian film director, whose film ‘Waldheims Walzer’ has received an award for the best feature-length documentary film at recently finished Berlinale. She will be staying in Belgrade in May, where her highly specific film, selected for the Beldocs Festival’s Biographical Documentary Programme, will be presented to the Serbian audience.

There is a great interest among the media for the scheduled arrival of Abel Ferrara, a cult American feature-film director, who will be a guest of 11th Beldocs Festival with his documentary film ‘Piazza Vitorrio’. Abel Ferarra – who is always expected to create a provocation – has actually made a significant number of documentary films.

The film ‘Piazza Vitorrio’ is a chronicle of the liveliest town square in Rome, where all multi-cultural varieties of the city are felt in full. The square is a constantly animated multi-ethnical centre, a residence to Romans, Asians, Africans and Indians.  Walking down the Square, Ferarra enters into conversation with square residents on their origins, reasons for coming, a desire to stay. And on survival in the cruel modern world. Precisely on account of its very colourful structure, Piazza Vitorrio has become a favourite spot for many artists, including Ferarra himself, who, for that very reason, with a documentary film structure, succeeds in reaching its core and enters the interior of its unique dimension. For the Square is made of people and their stories. Through his approach, Ferrara opens the door for them to confide in him. The diversity of the content has not been represented to that extent in any of the recent films, as it is the case in Piazza Vitorrio. In that respect, Ferrara reveals why precisely Piazza Vitorrio has become such an inspiring muse for many great filmmakers, including Pasolini to whom he dedicated his last film, featuring William Dafoe, who also makes a significant appearance in Piazza Vitorrio.

BelDocs Festival:

During the last decade, Beldocs Festival has become the most loved spring documentary film festival, which gathers the best works of contemporary documentary filmmaking. The most important contemporary documentary films have had its premiere precisely at Beldocs. In this year, again, a documentary film market will be organised, for the second time supported by the European Union through the Programme: Creative Europe, sub-programme Media. 

This year, as well, Beldocs is continuing to develop and educate its audience through a quality and premiere programme, offering, in addition to domestic, an international selection, as well as numerous accompanying programmes of events, among which Feel Good Movies and Biographical Documentaries proved to be the most loved. This year, in addition to Sava Centre, Beldocs will be held at Dom Sindikata, Kinoteka’s film theatres at Kosovska and Uzun Mirkova Street, the cinema Fontana and the Museum of Contemporary Art.

This year, a #europeanfilmchallenge prize competition has been launched, in which the documentary film audience compete for valuable prizes – a  full paid trip to an A category film festival. After Berlinale, the next round is a trip to Cannes and the second round started on 12 February. The rules are the following: a competitor should see 10 European documentary films on any of legal platforms (VoD, SVoD, cinema, festival, television, etc.), name the film and the platform, publish a photo as a proof and hash tag #europeanfilmchallenge. After certain period of time, the competition organiser will select a winner, who will receive this attractive prize.

This year’s 11 Beldocs Festival takes place from 7 to 14 May.

 

The following grants were announced on 29 March 2018.

These animated film production and development grants were announced by the Estonian Film Institute at the end of March 2018.

Within the context of Eurimages’ Strategy for Gender Equality in the Film Industry, aiming to implement equality in the number of applied and approved projects by male and female authors (i.e. 50/50 by 2020), it was announced at the 150th meeting that 30% of approved projects are by female directors.

Mare is written and directed by Andrea Štaka, the cinematographer is Erol Zubčević, and the art director is Jana Plećaš. The film is a co-production with OKOFILM Productions (Switzerland) and Dinaridi Film (Croatia) and will be shot, in full, on location in Konavle and Dubrovnik. The producers are Thomas Imbach and Andrea Štaka in Switzerland and Tena Gojić in Croatia. The film stars Marija Škaričić, joined by Goran Navojec and Goran Bogdan in supporting roles.

The film revolves around Mare who lives in Konavle, a short distance from Dubrovnik Airport. Her daily life goes by routinely; she is a mother, wife and homemaker. Her laidback demeanour will take her on a quest to find personal freedom after which she will never be the same woman again.

The project was developed with support from MEDIA Switzerland, while production support comes from the Swiss Ministry of Culture, the Zurich Film Fund, ZDF Arte, the Croatian Audiovisual Centre and the City of Dubrovnik.

A full list of supported projects can be found here.